Next Century Growth Investors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Caterpillar Inc. $CAT

Next Century Growth Investors LLC acquired a new stake in Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 5,005 shares of the industrial products company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,943,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. increased its stake in Caterpillar by 17.5% during the second quarter. Stamos Capital Partners L.P. now owns 7,815 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $3,034,000 after purchasing an additional 1,164 shares during the period. Intact Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Caterpillar during the second quarter worth approximately $388,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Caterpillar in the 2nd quarter valued at $639,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Caterpillar in the second quarter valued at $1,017,000. Finally, AXA S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Caterpillar by 20.9% during the second quarter. AXA S.A. now owns 170,806 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $66,309,000 after buying an additional 29,523 shares during the last quarter. 70.98% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on CAT shares. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Caterpillar from $506.00 to $581.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 4th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Caterpillar from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Caterpillar in a research note on Wednesday, November 5th. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Caterpillar from $570.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Caterpillar from $570.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, sixteen have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $610.32.

Caterpillar Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE CAT opened at $594.08 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $547.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $456.77. The company has a market capitalization of $278.02 billion, a PE ratio of 30.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.57. Caterpillar Inc. has a 12 month low of $267.30 and a 12 month high of $607.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.38, a quick ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.34.

Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The industrial products company reported $4.95 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.52 by $0.43. The company had revenue of $17.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.72 billion. Caterpillar had a return on equity of 47.16% and a net margin of 14.34%.Caterpillar’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $5.17 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Caterpillar Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current year.

Caterpillar Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, November 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, October 20th were issued a dividend of $1.51 per share. This represents a $6.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 20th. Caterpillar’s payout ratio is currently 31.01%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Caterpillar news, Chairman Donald J. Umpleby III sold 17,166 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, October 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $505.29, for a total transaction of $8,673,808.14. Following the transaction, the chairman owned 448,173 shares in the company, valued at $226,457,335.17. This trade represents a 3.69% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Jason Kaiser sold 10,707 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $563.60, for a total value of $6,034,465.20. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 8,649 shares in the company, valued at $4,874,576.40. This represents a 55.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 79,061 shares of company stock valued at $41,949,366 in the last ninety days. 0.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Caterpillar

Caterpillar Inc manufactures and sells construction and mining equipment, off-highway diesel and natural gas engines, industrial gas turbines, and diesel-electric locomotives in worldwide. Its Construction Industries segment offers asphalt pavers, compactors, road reclaimers, forestry machines, cold planers, material handlers, track-type tractors, excavators, telehandlers, motor graders, and pipelayers; compact track, wheel, track-type, backhoe, and skid steer loaders; and related parts and tools.